Abstract
BACKGROUND: The comparative efficacies of different generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain largely unknown. Moreover, whether one EGFR-TKI confers superior survival remains unclear, especially in East Asians. We conducted a network meta-analysis (NMA) comparing the survival outcomes of East Asian patients with advanced NSCLC treated with first-line EGFR-TKIs. METHODS: The NMA included observational real-world evidence studies on adult patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC who received first (gefitinib and erlotinib), second (afatinib), or third (osimertinib) generation EGFR-TKIs as frontline therapy. Studies were identified through an online bibliographic search of Medline articles in the PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. RESULTS: For overall survival (OS), afatinib had significantly better hazard ratios (HRs) than osimertinib (HR: 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23-0.91), gefitinib (HR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.43-0.72), and erlotinib (HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.54-0.92). For progression-free survival (PFS), afatinib had significantly better HRs than gefitinib (HR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.36-0.56) and erlotinib (HR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.49-0.81). Moreover, afatinib was most likely to achieve the longest OS (81.3%), followed by erlotinib (13%), osimertinib, and gefitinib. Furthermore, afatinib was most likely to achieve the longest PFS (48.3%), followed by osimertinib (34.9%) and erlotinib. CONCLUSIONS: This real-world evidence shows that afatinib confers better survival than other first-line EGFR-TKIs in East Asian patients with advanced NSCLC.